Man United scored a quick counterattacking goal vs Liverpool on Sunday in the Premier League but it went straight up to the VAR for rechecking.
In the buildup of the play, Divock Origi was supposed caught by Victor Lindelof and from the replays, it looked like there was indeed contact meaning Marcus Rashford’s goal was supposed to be disallowed.
But much like other controversial decisions during the course of the season, VAR chose not to overturn the decision which obviously left Jurgen Klopp fuming on the sidelines.
And speaking after the match, the Liverpool manager said: “They were better than us and defended well, but in the end, they scored a goal that shows all the problems with VAR.
“Mr Atkinson let the game run on because that is the protocol of VAR, and VAR shows there was contact and it was a foul.
“We then scored a goal that was disallowed. Pretty much everything went against us today, but we still didn’t lose. We deserved the point, 100 per cent.”
Now though, the PGMOL (Professional Game Match Officials Limited) have come out to give an explanation as to why Marcus Rashford’s goal was allowed to stand despite the fact that Lindelof did make contact with Divock Origi.
“Firstly, the on-field referee didn’t think it was a foul and VAR checked/decided that it wasn’t a clear and obvious error to not award the foul,” the PGMOL told Sky Sports[as quoted by The Mirror].
“Secondly, VAR isn’t re-refereeing matches – there is contact but VAR was comfortable it wasn’t enough to disallow the goal.”
At the start of the season, everyone thought this new addition will put an end to a lot of controversies but it is fair to say that the tech has just added to all the fiasco.
The Video Assistant Referee has been pretty inconsistent in their decision making as we have constantly seen that similar instances on the pitch have bourne completely different results.
But one this that VAR has brought in is ruling out obvious errors like Sadio Mane’s goal on Sunday being disallowed because of the ball touching his hand.
